Wed Dec 03 2003 06:33:
This is an Exclusive You Can Bruise! I asked Joe for his take on this Slate article, about the gala Return of the King opening in Wellington, New Zealand. Since I'm always proud to put up stuff on this site written by other people, here's his response:

The article is actually a pretty good description. The local paper has
talked of nothing else since NZ lost the semi-final of the Rugby World
Cup three weeks ago. For the first movie it renamed itself the Middle
Earth Post but didn't go that far this time.

I do know more than a few people who worked on the films in some part,
but the closest I get to actually knowing an actor would be that I used
to work with someone who is in a band with the guy who played an elf in
the Rivendell scene in the first movie (fans dubbed him Figwit).

The only exaggeration in the Slate article is the decription of
Wellington as "a collection of high rises at the foot of green
mountains" - mountains my arse. They're hills and it's quite possible to
ride a bike up them.

I went down to the celebrations quite late. I missed the parade, but my
gf Joanne saw it and thought it quite magical, especially the people
dressed as elves and orcs. The makeup is apparently really good even in
broad daylight.

It's sort of a shame to see the Rings stuff finished, it was nice to
have a common sense of purpose with others in the city. Then again
apparently work on King Kong will start soon...